


Crush On You

by taxingme



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Fluff, M/M, Nealer's an idiot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-29
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2019-03-11 00:19:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13512831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taxingme/pseuds/taxingme
Summary: James nods eagerly, not paying attention to where they’re walking, and almost trips up the stairs leading to the Entrance Hall. The only thing that stops him is a gentle tap from Paul on his elbow. James blushes and starts apologising, Merlin, he wishes he wasn’t like this around Paul.





	Crush On You

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not really sure when or why I wrote this but here - have 2k of James and Paul at Hogwarts for some reason

The thing is James isn’t all that good at doing his homework. He’s okay at the practical stuff and if it gets done in class he’s fine but once it’s only on him he doesn’t do any good. He talks to a few guys in his year level but they all tell him to concentrate, which, surprise, doesn’t help at all. So he ends up joining a study group in his fifth year and that’s only because OWLs are coming up and his parents will kill him if he doesn’t at least get _decent_ grades. The study group helps, most of them are studying for their NEWTs so it forces him to work hard too. Geno is his favourite - he's in his last year and wickedly good at everything he does.

He takes to calling James ‘Lazy’ which is shitty but also pretty accurate. James wishes it didn’t catch on with everyone. 

But the point is that he’s got one last History of Magic essay (fifteen inches of it) due and he has no idea what he’s doing. Professor Binns is awful to listen to and Goblin wars involve a lot of similar sounding names (a voice in his head that sounds suspiciously like Sid tells him off for being insensitive to Goblin culture) and he knows nothing about this Goblin war and he has no idea what he’s even meant to be looking for. 

He spends the whole of their study session complaining to Geno about it. The librarian glares at him the whole hour, while Geno laughs and tells him to do some work. Instead James keeps complaining that he only wrote down one reference for the whole topic and when he’d asked Madam Pince, she had huffily told him it was in the restriction section and she was never ever going to let him in there. James privately agrees with her, he would definitely ruin something in there. Sid deals with it longer than James thought he would, before cracking and telling James to shut up. He then writes down something on a scrap of parchment before shoving it in James face and telling him to go find Paul. 

Looking down at the note, James realises that Paul is Paul Martin. Paul is head boy and a Hufflepuff and he is a beautiful human being. James can’t even look at him without dropping something and on the two occasions they have interacted, James doesn’t even want to think about how dumb he was.

(The first time, he spilled a full bottle of black ink on Paul’s shirt and stammered out an apology while Paul told him not to worry. The second time was worse. He and Sid had been walking up to one of their classes and Paul had been coming down to the dungeons for Potions, Sid of course, stopped and introduced them. Paul laughed and said “Glad you don’t have any ink to spill this time!” and James pretty much died then and there. Instead of answering he said he forgot something and went to go back the way they came, but the stairs had moved on. So Paul had gripped his shirt and pulled him back in. Which had been far more mortifying. Weeks later and James is still annoyed that Paul didn't let him fall down. James would have a better chance of surviving that than another conversation with Paul.)

“Paul is head boy, he can get you that book no worries. Now shut up and let the rest of us work.”

James had glared at him before shoving his shit in his bag. He walked out and down to the dungeons. Paul’s good at Potions and can generally be found there, practicing everything for his NEWTS. Everyone knows he wants to be a Healer and that he has to get an Outstanding to even come close to that. James has no hope of ever being a Healer or anything to do with potions. Despite all the stereotypes about Slytherins and Potions, James is absolutely terrible at them. He can’t wait to drop it next year (his parents are both hopeless at it too and accept that he’ll be lucky to get a D on his OWL). 

He finds Paul in the last room, patiently preparing all his ingredients. James is in awe of that, he normally just wings it and puts everything as is – which is definitely part of the reason he’s not any good at it, no patience at all for the whole process. James watches him for a moment before placing his bag down, the less he holds here the better he’ll do, before knocking on the door. Paul turns to look and smiles. It lights up his whole face and James doesn’t think it’s very fair at all that his smile, combined with his glasses, makes his eyes light up so much. 

“James, right? You’re in Sid’s study group?”

James blushes because Paul him. How embarrassing. He stutters and stumbles out an answer before thrusting the note in his face. Paul laughs, soft and gentle and it shouldn’t sound like music to James but it definitely does, before tugging the parchment out of James’s hand to read it. James had read the note on the way down, it was just the name of the book but James is pretty sure he can’t communicate what he needs it for right now. 

“Hmm, I know this book. It’s in the restricted section right?”

The thing is (the other thing, James supposes) is that Paul is so lovely. He doesn’t make fun of anyone and there was no question that he would make head boy, he’s loved by everyone. So it’s not a mean question, it’s more a prompt to get James talking. It should make it easier but James is tongue tied and awkward at the best of times – his ridiculous crust making it worse. 

“I can get it for you if that’s what you need?” Still so gentle and kind. James is so embarrassed, no one else makes him like this.

“Yes! I need it for History of Magic, there’s an essay on the, uh, the uh, the Goblin wars? And I need that book! I know, that there are others but Binns made a point to mention this one. It’ll make me look smarter,” James yells every sentence in staccato bursts that make him feel like a mad man. He wants to smack himself in the face, it’s that embarrassing. 

Paul smiles again – soft and gentle and beautiful, like everything else that he does. “Okay, James. I can do that for you, let’s go up there now,” he says. 

James nods, stunned more than anything that Paul is willing to drop what he’s doing and help James immediately. Paul motions towards the door and James trips over his feet but thank Merlin, Paul has his back turned and doesn’t see. James straightens himself out before heading over to the door and picking up his bag. He turns back to the room and sees Paul putting some spells on his work before picking up his own bag and walking over to meet James. 

“The professor lets me use this room to practice because he only has a few classes in here a week,” he explains as he locks the door. “The others taking NEWT levels can use it as well but none of them care as much as I do. I want to be a healer, you know?”

James nods eagerly, not paying attention to where they’re walking, and almost trips up the stairs leading to the Entrance Hall. The only thing that stops him is a gentle tap from Paul on his elbow. James blushes and starts apologising, Merlin, he wishes he wasn’t like this around Paul. Paul just smiles though, mocking but still nice and James is fairly confident he deserves it. If Geno could see this he’d be on the floor with tears streaming down his face.

James kind of hates Geno sometimes. 

Paul keeps talking the whole way back up to the library. James follows the conversation in a daze because Paul Martin is talking to him. James doesn’t care about the whole Slytherin thing. He likes his house even if it has a bad reputation, but he knows what some people think of him. He knows that sometimes he can be a little bit nasty and a little bit petty and not a very good friend. James knows for sure that he’s not someone that Paul Martin should be hanging out with. Especially not without complaint. 

“Whoops, sorry for talking about myself that whole time,” Paul says. James shakes his head absently, he could listen to Paul talk about _anything_ all day and not even care about the topic, so long as Paul cared. “What about you, eh? What do you want to do after school? I know you’re only fifth year but, you know,” he trails off, blushing bright red. James is blown away by that, realising that Paul seems almost as nervous as James is. 

James is so distracted that he misses a step, tripping up the stairs like an absolute non. He manages to keep his feet and Paul chuckles at him, making a quip about James and stairs that James doesn't have the concentration to follow right now. Why can’t he be normal around Paul? 

“Oh! Sorry, I didn’t, uh, answer. Got a bit, uh, yeah. You know. But I don’t know about,” – he makes a vague hand waving motion to indicate the vastness that is ‘post-Hogwarts’ – “I’m decent at quidditch but my mum keeps telling me I need a backup plan. I like writing? Maybe something to do with that. Maybe sports stuff. I don’t know.”

“Don’t stress, it’s hard. Most people don’t know yet. I just like making potions,” Paul says, bumping into James. James bumps him back, easy like he’s around Paul all the time. Like they're friends or something. He turns to face Paul as they reach the door to the library, smiling uncertainly at him. Paul returns it, huge and blinding like nothing makes him happier than this moment right now. James can’t help swooning. He’s so screwed. 

They both reach for the handle at the same time, hands bumping as the push the door open together. James flinches, can’t help it, but Paul’s hand is soft and his smile doesn’t change. Neither of them move their hands until the door is full open and they’re stepping inside. Paul shuts the door behind them, explaining as he does so that Madame Pince gets very particular about the door being open. James flushes bright red because he knows this, she’s yelled at him often enough for leaving it open behind him. He hopes Paul isn’t trying to make fun of him. 

“Um, look. Pince doesn’t really like me. Well, no, she hates me actually. So maybe you could get the book? And then bring it out to me? She’ll say no if it’s for me,” James mumbles sheepishly. He hates explaining this stuff to people, it’s easier with friends who know how much of a screw up he can be. Paul laughs, so soft and so gentle, and reminds James that he can’t actually take books out of the Restricted Section. 

“Don’t worry though. Pince loves me. I can get us in,” he adds with a conspiratorial wink. James flushes because _Paul is winking at him_ and it’s a little bit too much. Thankfully, he doesn’t notice and leads James further into the library, searching for Madam Pince. They find her tidying up a section in the back that has books everywhere. James watches, transfixed by how effortlessly she flicks her wand and the books back to where they’re supposed to be. James can't even imagine a spell like that being so easy. He always makes mistakes. 

Paul explains the situation, twinkle in his eye as he, no other word for it, charms Madam Pince into letting them into the section. She side eyes James, promises that he’ll never be allowed back in if anything goes wrong and gives Paul permission to take him in. James has to stop himself from whooping with joy. Paul’s the best.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he chants the whole way back to the section. Paul grins at him, bright and blinding and James knows, without a doubt, that he’s going to fuck this up. The restricted section itself is a lot creepy and not somewhere James wants to be. Ever again. Paul finds the book quick enough, whispering as he explains that he has to pry it out, slow and gentle, or else the book on its left will start wailing. James gets why Madam Pince didn’t want him in here now. Paul makes a small noise, triumphant yet quiet, when he gets the book out without any reaction from those around it. James shuffles in closer to have a look at it. At the same time, Paul turns around. He’s still grinning, pleased with himself for getting the book, and James can’t help himself. 

He leans forward and kisses him. 

The kiss – if you can call it that – lasts approximately 2.3 seconds before Paul makes a startled noise and steps back. He bumps the shelves and every damn book in the section must feel it because all of a sudden there is more noise than James can handle. James lifts his hands to his ears, trying to block it out but it’s impossible. One book is chanting in an ancient language, another is flat out screaming and there’s one that sounds like it is sobbing. Paul and James share a look. They’ve both got their hands up and this whole thing is ridiculous. James snorts. Paul steps back into James’s space, like he’s going to do something as equally dumb as what James did when –

“James Neal, you are banned from the library for a week! I cannot believe, I let you in here for five minutes and you manage to wake up every book. Unbelievable! 10 points from Slytherin.”

Madam Pince bursts in, brandishing her wand and returning all the screaming books back to their place. James flees, not wanting to deal with her wrath any more than necessary. One time she took close to fifty points off him because he didn’t get away from her quick enough. He walks – runs, he is definitely running from her – out of the library passing his study group as he goes. They’re all roaring with laughter, Geno and Duper sharing identical grins that James knows mean he won’t hear the end of this. Ever. 

It’s not until he’s out in the hall, breathing heavier than he should be. That he realises he completely abandoned Paul in there. He frets about what to do for a few minutes, debating whether to do a sneaky walk through the library – risking at least another 10 points – to find him or to just wait out here. Which would mean running into Geno and Duper – when the door opens and Paul himself slips out. James grins at him sheepishly, not at all sure what’s going to happen now. 

“Here,” Paul says, shoving something into James’s hands. He looks at it in confusion, before he realises. It’s the book. “I convinced Sharp to let me borrow it, don’t tell her I gave it to you, yeah?” He chuckles, a little self-deprecating and a lot cute. James is too stunned to say anything profound. Or anything at all for that matter. “For your essay, I mean. I just thought it would be good. And you’re good too so it would be good for you to use. The good book.”

James squints in confusion. That did not make any sense at all. He’s just about got control of his mouth when he notices how much Paul is blushing and James did that, somehow. James is taking the credit for it at least because Paul is nervous. About talking to James. James grins, cocky and confident and nothing at all like how he really feels. His heart is racing. 

“Thanks.” He leans into Paul’s space. Paul’s breathing hitches, an obvious lack of sound when he doesn’t breathe back out straight away and James feels the grin stretch even further across his face. He presses a kiss to the corner of Paul’s mouth. It doesn’t last any longer than the one inside the library but, man, it feels so much better. Knowing that Paul actually wants this. He pulls back, looks into Paul’s eyes before deliberately stepping back. 

“I think you can help me more than the book. Want to come back and help me write it?”

**Author's Note:**

> I have a hockey [tumblr](http://nkadri.tumblr.com/) where I actively hate the Pens if that's your thing ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


End file.
